Kirby's Girls
by Kirby's Cowgirl
Summary: I've had several requests for a new story but I don't have time to write right now. This one is several years old but I don't think I ever posted it anywhere. The few people who read it really liked it. I didn't like it that Metcalf got off scot free after he was so willing to have Kirby shot for something he didn't do, so some of Kirby's WAC friends settle the score.


_Copyright 10/12 by Kirby's Cowgirl_

 _Fan-Fiction based on TV Show Combat! Copyright Selmur Production, Inc, ABC, Image_

 _Productions etc._

 _Disclaimer: Combat! and its characters do not belong to me, t_ _his WWII story is a piece of fan-fiction_ _and I am not being compensated in any tangible way._

Kirby's Girls

Caje walked up to the table where Saunders was playing poker with Grady Long and two Sergeants he didn't know.

Saunders knocked the ash of his cigar. "NO." he said.

The two Sergeants with him chuckled, and Grady grinned. Whatever Kirby had done _this_ time, everybody at the table knew Saunders was getting up. Caje was the only one who wasn't sure.

"Those WAC's that got killed - Sarge, I think Kirby was pretty serious about one of them." Caje said worriedly. "I don't know what to tell him."

"What WAC's?" Saunders put down his cigar and his cards.

"I wasn't gonna tell you, Chip." Grady laid his cards down too. "There were four of them in a jeep. They hit a mine. Trish O'Brien was driving."

"She was a good woman." Beckley said, as if daring anyone to disagree with him.

"She was." Saunders agreed. "Damn this War! It's bad enough when we lose men -" he stopped. She had been a good woman. Drank too much, partied hard, not the kind of girl you took home to Mama, but a good woman, and a good friend. If any man had dared to say anything bad about her, he'd have broken their jaw.

"Blake said one of them was just a kid. He said Kirby used to date her. He said he took her to the park to feed the ducks."

"Who's Blake?" Saunders asked.

"Blake Duncan, I'm guessing. He's in my squad." Sergeant Hall said, "Not quite as much of a troublemaker as your Kirby."

"Sarge, " Caje leaned in closer, "He's cryin'. I don't know what to do."

"I'll go." Grady said, pushing his chair back. "He's my second."

"Grady, you'll just take him to get drunk." Saunders stood up.

"Well, what are _you_ going to do?"

"Take him to get drunk, probably." Saunders shrugged, "Where is he, Caje?"

One week earlier

They had had such a good time. Alex was going to hate for it to end. Early the next morning, her friends would join a convoy back to their respective bases, and someone would come and get her and take her back to her base like she was a five year old. The six of them had managed to wrangle three day passes, but Sally had had hers cancelled at the last minute. It had only been a month since she'd seen them, but it felt like years. Little Beth had changed her hairstyle, and actually had on some make up. She looked older, more sophisticated, and Alex knew that had been the intention. She was afraid if her new CO found out she was underage, she would get sent home. Alex had decided the girl was running from worse things than Germans, and let her stay.

The Major at the next table had been making eyes at her since he came in. If she'd been by herself, she would _accidently_ have dumped her glass of wine on him. But he was an idiot, not worth bothering with. He'd finally stopped, when she hadn't given him any encouragement. When she realized what he'd just said to his companion, she could swear her heart stopped.

"Did you hurt Willie?" Beth demanded, jumping to her feet, her steak knife still in her hand.

"I beg your pardon?" the Major asked, instantly dismissing her.

"You're going to be begging a hell of a lot more than my pardon if you did anything to Kirby." Alex said, furious.

Cass had noticed the Major watching Alex, and she knew Alex thought he was interested in her because she was the only officer among them, but Cass figured it was because Alex didn't have on a wedding ring. She thought the fool had said something impolite to Alex, and Beth had jumped up to defend her honor. But when they heard Alex, they all surrounded the table.

Daggart looked at the five angry women. All of them couldn't be that scrawny punks lovers? "The kid." he thought, "he was the kid's boyfriend. And they were her friends and going to stand by her."

"What did you do to Kirby?" Trish demanded, sliding her hand in her jacket pocket.

The Captain sitting at the table proved he was an idiot too. "This is a private conversation and none of your concern."

Alex grabbed the folder sitting next to him off the table before he could stop her.

"What the hell did you do to Kirby?" she demanded, seeing it was a bunch of documents from court martial procedings. She was going to shoot both of them in the face, if Trish didn't beat her to it. Poor little Beth actually thought she could do something with that steak knife.

The MP who had been lounging at the entrance walked up to the table. "Do we have a problem here?" he asked the Major.

"Oh heavens, no." Blue said, winking at him, as Trish deposited herself in the Captain's lap, and poked her pistol in his side.

The MP did what every other man in the world did when Blue turned on the charm. He tripped over his own feet, crashed into the next table, which fortunately was empty, and apologized.

"We will report you." The Captain said.

"Not if you're dead." Trish grinned in his face.

Alex scanned the paperwork frantically. "He got off. His CO and one of his friends found evidence to get the charges dismissed." She looked at the Major. "You could have told me that, asshole."

"Lady, I will have _you_ court martialed -"

"We all have exemplary service records. How much you want to bet I can have you busted down to buck private and on the front in less than a week?"

She'd scared him, she saw. She was betting he was a West Point boy who'd never seen combat. She could tell from his fruit salad that he hadn't been in Africa.

Her father wouldn't do a damn thing to him if he killed her, but Uncle Bull would beat the crap out of him for talking to her like that. He'd wait until he was off duty, of course. Poor Uncle Bob wasn't big enough to fight anybody, but he'd have no problem _accidently_ running over the fool with one of his tanks. All she would get was a dishonorable discharge, and then she'd just go join the Maquis. At least they would let her fight.

"So I was right." Cass thought. "There _had_ been something between Alex and Kirby." Alex _never_ threw her brass connections around, or made idle threats. Cass had been on the receiving end of Alex's temper before, and these two idiots were about to get what they deserved.

"Ma'am, I'm sorry about your friend." The Captain said, "We were just doing our jobs." He was turning a little green.

"You're going to pay for our dinner." Alex said sweetly. "And we're all going to walk outside and act like we're best buddies. And Major, I won't kill you clean. I'll gut shoot you because it takes a hell of a long time to die from that."

The Major was looking a little green now too, but he threw some money down on both the tables, and threw down some more when Alex raised an eyebrow at him. They all walked outside with Blue chattering away, and she winked at the MP again as they passed him. Alex figured the man had probably wet his pants, and wouldn't have noticed if she shot the infuriating Major right in front of him.

"Where are you staying?" she asked.

"Lady, the one you want is Metcalf. He brought the charges up." The Captain said. Trish was hanging on his arm and grinning at him, in a not nice way.

"And where might I find him?" She'd read the whole damn report, Alex decided, when she had time. And she would find Metcalf and do _something_ to him.

"He's staying at our hotel. They gave him a month off -"

"Worster, shut up!" the Major bellowed.

"I'm not getting' shot!" the Captain said. " _You_ don't have a gun in your ribs."

"No, but he's sure got a bunch trained on him." Beth said sweetly. "And rest assured, I'm not a very good shot, but Alex wouldn't let me quit practicing until I could hit a man sized target. So I _will_ hit you, _somewhere."_

"You're not doing anything." Alex said to Beth.

"I'm not a baby." Beth said, looking like she was going to cry.

"Yes you are, sweetheart." Blue said, sliding her arm thru Beth's. "We've all already lost everything, and there's nothing they can do to us that would matter." The look she gave Daggart had him turning an even deeper shade of green.

"We could take them and tie them to those fence posts down the road." Trish popped her gum. "I seem to recall last time I wanted to shoot somebody's nuts off you wouldn't let me." looking at Alex.

"He didn't have any to shoot off."

"I doubt these two either. They look like the kind of excuses for men who hide behind our enlisted guys." Cass said.

It turned out they were all staying in the same hotel. The men's rooms were on the 2nd floor where Alex's was. The other girls were on the 3rd floor, and Worster had volunteered that Metcalf was on that floor too. Beth, Blue, and Cass took Worster to his room. Alex figured he'd tell Blue anything she wanted to know if she _just_ asked him. If not, Cass would make sure he spilled some information. They could keep Beth out of it. Like Blue had said, the women didn't care about anything. They could all join the Maquis.

When Daggart didn't want to get his key out, Trish just stuck her hand in his pocket and hunted until she found it. "I think Cass was right." She said, as she opened the door.

Alex grinned at Daggart. "Take your clothes off." She said sweetly.

He was enraged. "I will see you in Leavenworth for this."

"Considering all the men who'd cut off one of their arms to get in my pants, I doubt it." almost snarling now, Alex gestured with the pistol. "You really won't like it if Trish takes 'em off."

" _Everything,_ Alex?" Trish asked. The way she was grinning at him, Daggart started peeling out of his clothes.

"So all of you sleep with that little punk?" Daggart sneered. "He your toy boy while your husbands were away?"

Trish smashed him in the face with her pistol. Alex was amazed and relieved that it didn't go off. "You son of a bitch! I loved my husband. I should just kill you."

"He's not worth it." Alex looked at the blood welling from his face. She didn't blame Trish, but she wished she hadn't done it. She pulled her knife from her purse. "Cut his pants up, and make him tie his own legs up. Watch his feet." She looked at Daggart. "I will kill you. And not that's any of your business, or that you have the brains to understand, Kirby is the only man in my life who ever treated me like a lady, including my worthless husband."

When Trish had Daggart tied naked spread eagled on the bed, she looked at Alex. "If we take his money, they'll just think he wanted to get kinky and a couple of prostitutes robbed him." She stuffed some dirty socks in his mouth.

"Works for me." Alex took her knife from Trish, dropped her pistol back in her purse, and looked thoughtfully at Daggart. She grabbed a handful of his hair, and yanked his head back. "I really should just kill you." She wanted to, so badly. But there were other enlisted men out there who needed protection from idiots like him. She knew she loved Kirby, but the two of them were too different. There was no way they could have anything after the War. She sliced off a huge hunk of Daggart's hair, and dropped it in the floor. "My version of counting coup." She doubted he even knew what she meant, but she thought Tall Feather would have approved.

"What did you get out of Worster?" Alex asked, when they were all gathered on the 3rd floor in the other girls room.

"He thinks there really is something wrong with Metcalf. The man goes to the hospital every morning and talks to some Doctor, then he comes back to the hotel and gets drunk." Cass shrugged. "We could shove him out the window?"

"I don't want to kill him, just discredit him and embarrass him." Alex said.

"What he did to Kirby." Blue put in. "I could chat him up in the bar, and bring him upstairs."

"And we could take all his clothes and throw him out in the hall." Beth said.

"You _didn't_ let her watch?" Alex asked Blue.

"She wanted to." Blue shrugged.

Alex put her hand over her face.

"Are all men that ugly?" Beth asked innocently.

Alex turned a furious red, the rest of them started laughing.

"We could do what Blue suggested." Trish said, "But it would be more believable if Alex did it."

"I have never _chatted up_ a man in my life." Alex said. Except Kirby. And that had almost been a disaster.

"That's why nobody will believe him if he tells." Cass said. "The rest of us have been around the block, so to speak."

"Several blocks." Blue said.

"Entire cities." Trish corrected. They all just looked sad. Alex wondered how life could be so unfair as for good men like their husbands to be dead, while scum like Daggart hid behind the lines and flourished.

"Ok, I'll try." Alex said. "Beth, you come with me, and if it looks like its working, you go back to my room and open the window. That way I can run down the fire escape and get back in. I guess the rest of you will just have to wait. Men usually aren't interested in me, so we'll probably be right back."

"You know it's a shame her worthless husband is already dead." Trish said after the door closed.

"Do you think she and Kirby -" Blue stopped. "I didn't want to ask in front of Beth."

"Well she spent the night with him." Cass said, "But all of us did too, on numerous occasions."

Spending the night with Kirby didn't always involve getting tangled in the sheets. Sometimes it was just passing out from drinking too much. Or playing poker. And they all knew that the only reason Blue was still alive was that Kirby had held her and talked to her all night on Danny's birthday when she'd decided to kill herself.

…

There was only one Sergeant drinking at the bar. Alex had no idea how to approach him. Beth took care of it for her.

"Are you in charge of our convoy tomorrow, Sergeant?" she asked sweetly., offering her hand. "My name is Beth Black and it's so nice when we have a competent man to look after us."

"No ma'am, I'm sorry." He shook her hand, and released it.

"Oh, you must be shy." Beth said, looking at Alex. "The poor man didn't tell me his name."

"The idiot's too drunk to remember his name." Alex thought.

" John Metcalf." He said, flushing.

" Can we buy you a drink, Sergeant? We're off duty." She looked at Alex. "It's ok, isn't it?"

" Had little Beth managed Kirby like this? She would have been so much better for him than me." Alex thought. She said, "Sure, let's have a drink."

So they settled at a corner table, and Alex just smiled at Metcalf while Beth chattered on. She didn't think she could open her mouth without threatening to murder the man. Sally had always told her that she needed to learn how to hide her emotions better. The only time she could bluff was when she was playing poker.

Beth excused herself, and Alex wondered what she was supposed to do.

"Do you play poker?" she asked sweetly, and arched an eyebrow at him. If he didn't understand that, she'd have to send Blue after him.

"Yes ma'am!" he positively leered at her.

She thought she was going to be sick. How in the hell did Sally do this? If the fool touched her, she would shank him in the hall. But he behaved himself until they got inside the room and she closed the door. Then he tried to grab her.

She slugged him, and he reeled backwards. He really was drunk.

"Now sweetie, that wasn't nice." Trish said, coming out of the other bedroom. "Didn't you promise the poor man something?"

"A poker game." Alex said, looking at him in disgust.

" _A poker game?_ " Blue asked incredulously.

"Men don't like me. I don't know how to get their attention."

Blue said something in French that Alex didn't get all of, but the gist of it was that all men were fools and she would have liked to have met up with Alex's husband in a dark alley. It was a real shame they couldn't kill him twice.

Metcalf just looked at the four women.

" _We're_ friendly." Cass said, gesturing to Blue and Trish. "Why don't you get comfortable?" and winked at him, as she unbuttoned the top two buttons of her shirt.

"God, he is a fool." Alex thought as he started peeling out of his clothes. She figured even Kirby would have run if four women he'd never seen before propositioned him. She slipped past into the bedroom and eased the door closed, then sprinted down the fire escape. Beth had the window open, and was waiting on her.

"What do we do now?" she asked Alex.

"Give them a couple minutes, and then we'll walk downstairs and ask for an MP."

"And say there's a naked man in the hall!" Beth said, giggling.

"I should have made you and Kirby get married." Alex said, and meant it. "You only _look_ innocent, you even fooled me."

"I want _you_ to marry Willie."

"WHAT?" Alex asked, thinking, "Oh god, surely he didn't tell her that we -"

"He loves you." Beth looked at her like she was an idiot. "Why do you think he trips over his own feet and falls down any time he gets near you?"

"Because I have a reputation for being an ill tempered bitch who's really good with a BAR."

"He's not afraid of you." Beth opened the door, peered into the hallway. "Come on. You love him too, or you wouldn't have gotten so mad at Daggart."

"Out of the mouths of babes." Alex muttered as they headed downstairs.

"I heard that." Beth laughed. "I told Willie your husband was bad to you. He got really mad."

"Probably because you were wasting time talking about me." Alex thought she was turning purple.

"I'm not ever getting married." Beth said. "But you and Willie need each other. You don't know how to have fun anymore. And you never even noticed the way Willie looks at you."

"He's scared of me, Beth."

"He looks at you like he thinks the sun rises and sets on your head. I know he drinks too much and chases women, but he'd stop if _you_ ever gave him any encouragement."

"Beth, if I gave him any encouragement, he could get shot."

"So you do want him then." The little witch actually winked at her.

Just before they got down to the lobby, they heard a woman screaming. "Oops." Alex said. "Guess somebody else beat us to it."

…

She was going to stick a bayonet in his ribs as soon as he went to sleep. Sally had _never_ been so furious at Rick before. Not only had he cancelled her damn pass and made her babysit General Bowen's idiot wife, he'd been the model of propriety and hadn't even stayed in the same hotel. She hadn't seen Alex since idiot Bill had gotten himself killed on Omaha Beach.

If that woman mentioned her needlepoint one more time, Sally swore she was going to throw up on Rick's boots.. But with her luck, if she did that, Mrs. Bowen would try to _take care of her_. She didn't care if she got busted back down to Corporal, she had had _enough!_

They rounded the landing, and there was a naked man in the hallway, beating on a door. Mrs. Bowen screamed. Sally burst out laughing. The idiot man, instead of trying to cover himself up, stood at full attention, and snapped off a salute. Rick whipped his coat off and covered him up.

The General opened the door to his room, and shoved Sally and Mrs. Bowen inside. Mrs. Bowen was frantic. Sally poured her a glass of water, and put her head to the door to listen.

"That woman -" the man was sputtering. "She invited me! That's her room! And then they shoved me out in the hall."

"What woman?" the General asked. It sounded like he was going to start laughing too.

"She said her name was Alex West -"

"You lying son of a bitch!" Sally flung the door open and only Rick's swift intervention kept Metcalf from getting his eyes clawed out.

"Let me go, dammit!" she elbowed Rick hard in the ribs, and he yanked her back against him with an iron arm across her waist.

"Calm down, Sally." he ordered. He looked at the General. "Captain West's room is not on this floor. She has an exemplary service record, and lost her husband on D Day. I do believe this gentleman has had too much to drink and confused her with someone else."

"All these WAC's are crazy - "Metcalf started.

The only thing Sally could do was kick him. So she did. Unfortunately, all she could reach was his shin.

The General smiled. He really, really wanted to laugh, but he kept on his stern face. "Miss Tavish, would you please make sure my wife is all right?" It wasn't a request, so much as an order, and Sally stomped back in the room and slammed the door so hard Rick was surprised it didn't fly off the hinges.

"Those women in there –" Metcalf pointed at the door he'd been banging on. "Have my clothes."

"You expect us to believe that some WAC's lured you to their room, stripped you, and threw you out in the hallway?" Rick leaned closer and breathed. "You're drunk. You're not behaving like a gentleman."

"Search that room! Those women have my clothes!" Metcalf insisted.

"Where's _your_ room?" General Bowen asked.

"312." Metcalf pointed.

The General gestured for them to proceed him, and Rick dragged Metcalf down the hall. He tried the door, and it was unlocked, pushed it open, to find clothing strewn all over the room, and four empty liquor bottles. "I did not drink that!"

"Colonel Jackson, if you would be so kind as to find an MP, I believe Metcalf and I will wait right here for you."

Rick bounded down the stairs, trying to keep from laughing. One of his assignments for the weekend had been to check on Metcalf. It did look like the man had lost his marbles. He needed to get the man in the brig before Sally killed him. He had a morning meeting with General Taggart and he really hoped the man didn't get wind of this, or Metcalf would have a broken jaw, at the least.

…

"Would someone like to tell me what happened?" Hanley asked.

"We were having a wake for some dead friends." Saunders said.

"So you got drunk and started a fight?" Hanley asked.

"No sir. I started a fight because that MP kicked Grady." Saunders was _mad_ , and still slightly drunk. Not a good combination.

"Grady's hurt." Caje said. "They wouldn't take him to the aid station."

"He didn't do nothin'" Kirby put in, "He just fell in the floor drunk."

Caje and Kirby appeared to be sober. Kirby had a black eye, and he just seemed confused and sad. Caje's cheek was split wide open. He was angry, but not the seething _mad_ that was coming off of Saunders and Hall. Beckley was sitting in the corner sobbing.

"Can you and Kirby carry Grady to the aid station?" Hanley asked Caje.

Caje looked at Kirby, waited for the nod. "Yes sir."

"Get that stretcher at the entrance."

"Sir, you can't release prisoners -" one of the MP's started.

"It's obvious this man needed medical attention." Hanley gestured at Grady. "If he's seriously injured, there will be repercussions." He glared at the MP.

"It took four of them, Lieutenant." Caje said, as he and Kirby eased Grady on the stretcher. "It took four of them to get the Sarge down. And Kirby and I didn't get in it until they kicked _him."_

"He's jealous." Beckley said, suddenly not crying anymore.

Caje shot him a questioning look as he and Kirby picked up the stretcher, but Hanley gestured them on. "Caje, you get your face sewn up, and you and Kirby wait for me at the aid station." he ordered.

"Who's jealous, Beckley?" Hanley asked once they were gone.

"That shit ass MP who kicked Grady. He knew that's the only way he'd get Saunders to fight."

"We protect our own." Hall said, and a silent look passed between him and Saunders that Hanley wasn't sure he wanted to even begin to understand.

"What is he jealous of?"

"Saunders gets all the women. And he doesn't even try."

If Hanley hadn't known Saunders very well, he wouldn't have noticed the slight red tinge his face got.

"I'm sorry." Beckley said, struggling, wiping his eyes. "I'm sorry. I should have helped you." He choked, started crying again. "I loved her."

"I know Beck." Hall laid a hand on his shoulder. "I'm sorry too."

Saunders had that closed off look on his face and Hanley knew not to waste his time asking him anything else.

Kirby was sitting outside the entrance to the aid station and he got up when he saw Hanley. "They said Grady had a concussion and some broken ribs, sir. Caje is gettin' his face sewn up."

"You want to tell me what happened?"

Kirby sighed. "I was on the same base as the ladies and I knew all of them. They were my friends. I was the MP assigned to protect them for awhile." At the disbelieving look on Hanley's face, "You can ask General Taggart, sir, he's the one who put me there." Hanley was still looking at him like he was lying. "Their CO was his niece, and he always kept an eye on them."

Kirby swiped at the tears running down his face. " I guess Caje thought I was gonna do somethin' stupid. He went and got the Sarge.I didn't know they knew Trish in Africa. And I guess Sergeant Beckley was in love with her. Please don't take the Sarge's stripes, sir. That MP kept tryin' to pick a fight, and he just ignored him until he kicked Grady. And Grady didn't do nothin' at all."

"Lieutenant –" Caje started as he came unsteadily outside. Kirby jumped up and caught his arm to keep him from falling, and Hanley realized how bad off Caje was when he didn't protest.

"Are they short of beds in there?" Hanley asked.

Caje started to shake his head, and groaned instead. Hanley caught his other arm, and he and Kirby walked him back inside. The bed next to Grady was empty, and they eased him down in it.

"Kirby, you stay here. If anything changes with Grady, come and get me, _at once."_

"Yes sir." Kirby said miserably, as he carefully sat down on the edge of Caje's bed.

"Kirby, Lieutenant Hanley's gonna throw you under the brig for lyin' to him." Caje understood that Kirby hadn't wanted Hanley to think the dead women were the kind of women he usually associated with, but -

"Even _you_ don't believe me." Kirby said, turning his head, trying to hide his tears.

"Mon dieu." Caje said softly.

"I ain't a bad guy all the time really." Kirby choked, swiped at his face again. "I never had a woman friend before them. All those poor women lost their men in Africa, and they were such _good_ women, Caje. And they loved their husbands so much - I thought Blue was gonna kill herself on her husbands birthday -"

Caje just reached and patted Kirby's leg. He thought he really needed to sit up and hold him, because Kirby was going to break down into sobs, and if he did, they'd throw him out of the aid station, but he knew he couldn't manage it. He was so dizzy he thought he was going to be sick.

"Their CO, god she's tough, Caje! She made them drill. They ran the obstacle course, and some of them were better than the guys." Kirby swiped at his face again. "That poor woman. This will kill her." He sighed. "She has the most amazing hands -"

Caje looked at him, horrified. _Kirby was in love with a WAC officer who was a General's niece!_ And he might not have even admitted it to himself yet, but it was there. He was going to get himself shot this time, because it sounded like the two of them had done _something_ already.

"She's better with a BAR than Grady."

"No. He's still drunk." Caje thought. "He doesn't know what he's sayin.' There is no way a woman could handle a BAR."

"Nobody's better with a BAR than me." Grady said groggily. "But I sure as heck want to meet a woman that shoots one. Hey, I'll marry her. Kirby, where is she?"

"Over my dead body." Kirby muttered as he got up. "I gotta find a Doctor."

"How you feel, Grady?" Caje asked.

"Like I got my ass kicked. How you think I feel?" Grady struggled, tried to sit up, and failed. "Saunders ok?"

"He's in the brig. They let us out because you were hurt."

Kirby came back with a nurse, who shook her head at Grady when he grinned at her. "Well, Mr. Long, it's only been what, two weeks since we threw you out of here?"

"I like you." Grady said, "But I'm spoken for now, so you can forget it."

"Oh, really? And where, pray tell, did you find a woman who would have you?" she asked as she took his pulse.

"Kirby knows a woman who shoots a BAR."

" _I_ can shoot a BAR." She looked mad.

Caje looked at Kirby. Did she actually _like_ Grady?

"First I've heard of it." Grady said.

"I didn't say I could run with one. I can shoot it on a bipod. Probably better than you." She jammed a thermometer in his mouth.

Caje was grinning, but Kirby looked at her strangely. "You were at Blenheim." he said.

"Hello, Kirby. Nice of you to notice."

Grady took the thermometer out of his mouth. "Hands off. Maybe I'll keep this one." he told Kirby, and reached to pat her butt. He missed, but she popped him anyway.

"I'm wounded. You're supposed to be nice to me."

"Put that damn thermometer back in your mouth. I've got patients who actually _need_ me."

Grady put the thermometer back, but he made a face at her. She started checking the bandage on his head. When she reached for the thermometer again, Grady made another grab. Considering he couldn't focus his eyes, he did pretty well. "Mr. Long, I have had enough out of you." the nurse said. She read the thermometer, leaned down and caught his chin, and kissed the heck out of him.

"DAMN!" Grady said.

"Behave yourself." The nurse told him as she left.

"I think that woman's got marriage on her mind, Grady." Kirby warned.

"That is the pretty brunette right? Not the one that's ninety?"

"She looks like she's eighty five if she's a day." Caje said, struggling not to laugh.

…

The convoy was huge, and they were right in the middle of it, which was assumed to be the most protected place. It also meant they would be eating dust the entire way back to their HQ. Somebody must be broken down, they'd been sitting for at least half an hour.

"You promised you would teach me to drive." Beth told Trish again.

"Honey, I can't let you drive in this mess. Half those fools," she gestured at the big trucks, "can't handle their rigs. We've got to be able to haul ass out of the way or get run over."

"Blue?" Beth pleaded.

"I will take our first free Sunday and spend the entire day teaching you to drive." Blue crossed her heart. "Honey, it's not a big deal."

"When you can't it is." Beth said, pouting.

"I'm gonna take a walk." Cass said. As she started to get out of the jeep, her dog tags caught on the back of the seat, tangled in her hair, and the chain broke. She gave an exclamation of disgust when the whole mess fell in the filthy floorboard. "I'll look for them later."

She stopped at the back of a deuce and a half. It was enclosed. It would keep some of the dust off of her. She reached up to untie the back flap.

"What do you want now, asshole?" a voice demanded.

She didn't know why, but it struck her as funny. She started laughing. The flap thrust open, and a cute red headed private looked at her in shock. Then when he realized she wasn't mad, he quirked an eyebrow at her. She offered him her hand, and he hauled her up and tied the flap back.

An enclosed staff car pulled up next to the jeep, and a Lieutenant stuck his head out of the window. "Would any of you ladies happen to be translators?"

"Blue is." Trish said, pointing.

"Ma'am, would you help me please? I've got five pages of German that I've got to get translated before we get to HQ. The General is going to have my ass." he turned red, "Sorry.

Blue gave him an appraising look.

"Here." He fumbled, extended his officers pistol out the window, butt first. "If I get out of line, you can shoot me. The General's gonna murder me anyway. I shouldn't have gotten drunk last night -" he turned even redder.

Blue laughed. "I'll help you."

He jumped out of the car and helped her out of the jeep. "Would you other ladies like to ride along? It would be out of the dust. I can find someone to bring your jeep."

"Can I drive?" Beth asked him.

"No ma'am, I'm afraid not."

"I'll stay here then."

…

The explosion was LOUD. Cass, in a tangle with the private, fell off the boxes they'd been using as a bed, and frantically hunted her clothes. He grabbed his rifle as the two of them jumped out of the back of the truck. She thought she heard somebody screaming, and then another explosion. He muscled her under the truck, over her protests.

"STAY HERE. AND STAY DOWN." When he saw the look on her face, "Don't make me punch you."

Cass waited until he'd trotted off, then she slid out from under the truck on the opposite side. She had to help Trish protect Beth. And she swore she heard a woman crying. She sprinted up the road to where everyone was milling about. Two soldiers were carrying another man who was missing part of his leg.

She saw the remains of a jeep overturned in a field, and someone was crying and begging for help. It took her half a second to realize it was Beth. She started to run into the field and somebody grabbed her.

"No, lady, no! They called for help. That whole field is mined." Tears were streaming down the big guys face. She thought he'd been driving the truck in front of them, but wasn't sure.

"My friends!" she cried struggling. "Let me go!" It _could_ not be happening again. She could not have lost _all_ of them.

He was so big and strong. He was like Mac. Trying to fight with the big Irishman had been infuriating. He could hold her with one hand, and no matter what she did, she couldn't get loose. And he never even spilled his beer. Patrick had tried so hard to teach her not to lose her temper when she fought, but she had never managed it. Patrick, Ian, sweet little Danny - why had they always thought of him as a kid?, Big Mac - and oh, god, now she'd lost Trish and Blue too. And Beth was not - her mind finally processed what she was seeing, and the guy let her go when he saw she was sick. She threw up until it felt like all her ribs were cracked. The guy had a comforting hand on her shoulder, and she knew he'd stop her, but all she wanted to do was run straight out in the field and gather Beth up in her arms and hold her until she died.

"Let me go!" she said. "Please just let me go! I'm dead anyway. It doesn't matter!"

He just dumped her over his shoulder and carried her off to an ambulance. There were three medics scurrying around inside and she saw some wounded men.

"Did you get me some help?" one of the medics demanded, not even looking up. "You've got to get that damn road cleared and get us moving or we're gonna lose these two. DAMMIT!"

"I'll help." Cass managed to get out. The second he turned loose of her, she was going to Beth. Blue was the only person who had ever been able to outrun her, and Blue was dead. She felt the tears starting again.

"Give me something to knock this poor woman out with. She's trying to run out in the field to her friends and I don't have anybody to watch her."

"Sorry, lady." Another of the medics said. "I really am sorry, but I just don't have the time."

She saw the syringe in his hand and started fighting for all she was worth, and then felt a needle, and in a few minutes, nothing at all.

"Will she be ok?" the big man looked worriedly at the medic.

"I don't know, kid." The medic sighed, shook his head. "Find out if we can get this ambulance thru."

…

"Mama! Mama!"

Cass tried to wake up. Her head was throbbing and her mouth felt like a huge cotton ball. She must have really tied one on the night before. And it seemed like she had had a nightmare. Where was that kid, and why didn't his mama answer him?

She fought her way completely awake, having to blink to get her vision to clear. She was in some kind of hospital -

"Mama!"

She looked over where the voice was coming from, and realized it was a soldier. A soldier who appeared to have no legs anymore. "MAMA!" he screamed again, starting to thrash around.

She stumbled to the side of his bed, knelt down, and took his hand. "I'm here, sweetie. It's ok." She brushed his hair off his face.

"Mama, it hurts."

"I'm sorry." Cass said, starting to cry.

"You told me not to take my bicycle up that hill, but all the big kids do, and I wanted -" he started sobbing.

"Shhh… I'm here." God what was she supposed to do? She knew he was in shock, and dying. But why wasn't anybody here? She raised her head and looked around. Every bed in the makeshift hospital was full. There were three orderlies darting around in the aisles, and she saw two Doctors. There was no way five people could care for so many wounded.

"Thank you, ma'am." One of the orderlies stopped when he saw her distress. "He's out of his head, he doesn't know what he's saying. If you could just sit with him, it does help. Doctor Bernie wanted to talk to you when you woke up, but -" he looked around and shook his head. "It'll be awhile."

As Cass soothed the soldier, she remembered what had happened. Why hadn't she stayed in the jeep with them? She didn't want to live without them. She'd lost too much already.

She just kept talking to him gently. There were so many dying men in here. Patrick's entire squad had died on the field. But what if they'd made it to a hospital? She would have wanted _someone_ to at least try to help them. She could do this. She _would_ do this.

…

Blue translated the entire five page document while they were driving. She noticed the Lieutenant looking at her several times, but ignored him. "Here." She offered him the papers back.

"You give up?" he looked like he was going to cry. Then seeing the way she was glaring at him, "You're _done?_ That fast?"

"It's a code." She pointed. "You really only want every third line, but I translate everything in case there's something else S2 can use."

"You read code?"

"Some women have brains too." Blue said, thinking, this had not been a good idea. She was worried about Alex. Beth and Trish were assigned to the S2 unit that Sally Tavish worked in, they could keep an eye on each other. She actually worked for S2 herself, but in a different capacity. And poor Cass was stuck somewhere as a file clerk/typist. But Alex was by herself, and she doubted there were any mules to ride, or obstacle courses to run during the night. She could still work on her German, but Alex could only study for so long before she had to get out and _do_ something.

"What outfit is your husband with, ma'am?"

"He died in Africa."

"I'm sorry." He hesitated. "Look, when we get to HQ, we'll get you some dinner, and then I'm gonna have to take you over to the nurses quarters until I can get you back to your convoy. I really do appreciate you helping me."

Blue looked around the seat and suddenly realized she'd left her purse in the jeep. Danny would have had her hide for that. She had her officers pistol in her jacket pocket, and her knife strapped to her leg, and some money - but her dog tags and the only photograph she had of Danny were in her purse.

"You lose something?"

"I left my purse in the jeep." She tried to shrug it off, but she had a bad feeling about this. The last time she had felt like that was the day those idiots had come and told them their men were dead, and she had lost Danny's baby.

"I'll _give_ you some money." He said instantly.

"My husband's picture is in my purse. It's the only one I have." Blue bit her lip. Something was wrong. She had learned the hard way not to tell anyone when she had these feelings, but - they had gotten caught! That's all it was. Cass and Trish would protect Beth, and they hadn't allowed her to do anything anyway. And they might lock them all up for a little while, but that would be about it. The Maquis were looking better and better. The five of them could stay together, and actually _do_ something.

The Lieutenant came and got her the next morning. An older nurse accompanied them on the car ride to HQ. Blue was hard pressed not to laugh. She had meant it when she'd said there was _nothing_ they could do to her that would matter. She actually thought Danny would approve of what they'd done. Heck, Danny and Kirby would probably have been friends, if they'd ever had the chance.

But when they walked into _Daggart's_ office, she got just a little scared. His cheekbone was split open and he had a black eye. And he was missing a big hunk of his hair that he'd tried to comb over.

"What's your name, ma'am?" Daggart asked her.

"Blue McCall." She said, wondering why in the world she did. She had always used her maiden name, never even changed it on her dog tags, and that just seemed so wrong now.

"Please have a seat." He just looked worried, not mad.

"I'd rather stand." She was almost as tall as he was, and he was not going to intimidate her by making her sit down. He, like most men, probably thought that because she was beautiful, that she was stupid. He didn't have a clue how good a soldier she was. She could kill him and the Lieutenant and be gone, and nobody would catch her. Danny had insisted that she learned how to fight.

"Your friends are dead." He looked at the nurse who had accompanied them like he expected her to take over.

"What?" Blue asked him. He had _done something_ to them. She would shoot him in the face.

"Ma'am, I'm really sorry." The Lieutenant said. "I should have made them come with us." He stopped, cleared his throat, "The little one that wanted to drive, I guess she kept pestering one of the other ladies and she drove out into a field and they hit a mine."

Blue collapsed into the chair. She heard the nurse talking to her, but didn't know what she was saying. And Daggart just looked concerned, but not mad or anything. _She_ hadn't done anything to him though. What had he just said, "your four friends?" He thought _Alex_ was in the jeep. She had left her purse, with her dog tags, so they just thought they were missing a body.

Alex was tough. She could withstand getting court martialed if it came to that. But Blue knew that she would never, ever recover from losing her friends. She had to protect her, and if it meant letting Alex think she was dead for awhile, well, it couldn't be helped. Daggart was a fool. Worster was a coward, and Metcalf was just plain crazy. She was dizzy. She was going to be sick. The nurse held the trash can for her and talked to her gently, and she didn't remember too much after that.

…

Alex couldn't remember when she'd slept in. Of course, she'd had way too much to drink the night before, and her head hurt like hell. She looked at the clock, 10 am. Her ride was supposed to pick her up at 9. The girls convoy had left at 6 am, and they'd said their good byes last night, when they were private.

Her usual driver was a sweet kid, and he was probably just waiting for her downstairs. She looked out the window. A jeep with a .50 caliber mounted on the back was parked on the street near the hotel. She wondered if they'd gotten caught, decided the hell with it, and got dressed. Just because the brass was here it didn't mean the shit had hit the fan.

She had to hold on to the banister to make it down the stairs. "WHOA!" She really, really, needed a cup of coffee. And then she heard somebody sobbing, and a man talking quietly. She glanced into the small private dining room, and saw Sally.

She'd met Colonel Jackson, Sally's on and off lover before. He was about to get a piece of her mind for making Sally cry like that. She glared at him as she walked into the room. "Sally -"

"You _stupid, stupid_ son of a bitch!" Sally threw a china cup at Rick. "He let me think you were dead too." She said to Alex, as she grabbed her and buried her face in her shoulder.

"Who's dead?" Alex asked, eyes wide as saucers. "Uncle Bull? Uncle Bob?" frantically. She almost said _Kirby_ , but stopped herself in time.

"Alex." A voice from the doorway said, and she saw Uncle Bull was crying. The only time she had ever seen him cry was when she was very small and her mother had died.

"Oh god." She said. And suddenly, she knew. How many nights had Bull sat in the kitchen and lectured Cass for getting drunk and picking up men she didn't even like? Until Beth started dating Kirby, he'd taken the two of them out every Sunday afternoon, for ice cream, or to the movies, or both. He'd pulled Trish out of more disasters than Alex could count, and been so kind to poor Blue. They'd all been his friends too.

He folded her and Sally in his big strong arms and told Jackson to get out.

…

"Grady, you take care of yourself." Saunders said, offering his hand.

Grady reached and missed, and Saunders shook his head, and caught Grady's hand in both of his. "Is he going to be alright?" he asked the pretty brunette nurse.

"All she does is smack me." Grady pouted.

"I wonder why." Saunders said dryly.

"Mr. Long will be just fine in a couple weeks. I'll be glad to send him back to you." She grinned at Grady, but he couldn't see it. "I honestly think he likes it here, he can't seem to stay away."

"Hey, Sarge, you know Kirby's in love with a BAR woman?"

"Get some rest, Grady." Saunders said, chuckling as he went out the door.


End file.
